Press Release

Mountain View, CA – January 26, 2017. Verb Surgical Inc. announced today that the company has demonstrated its first digital surgery prototype to its collaboration partners at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., part of the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies, and Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences), as well as senior leadership from Johnson & Johnson and Alphabet Inc.

The digital surgery platform included all elements of the company’s five technology pillars – robotics, visualization, advanced instrumentation, data analytics, and connectivity – developed by Verb and its collaboration partners.

The latest demonstration was attended by executives from Ethicon, Verily, Johnson & Johnson and Alphabet, including Alex Gorsky, Chairman & CEO of Johnson and Johnson, and Sergey Brin, co-founder of Alphabet, Inc. and Google.

“This is a tremendous achievement for Verb and our collaboration partners at Ethicon, and Verily,” said Verb Surgical CEO Scott Huennekens.

“Verb is a company driven by taking action for surgeons and patients. Completing this prototype milestone was an achievement that we aimed for a year ago, and I’m excited to say we achieved it and are on track with our development schedule to deliver Surgery 4.0 with our platform,” continued Huennekens.

“The team has made important progress since Verb was formed in August 2015. The digitally-enabled surgery platform is a great example of how healthcare can be transformed through innovation,” said Gary Pruden, Executive Vice President and Worldwide Chairman, Medical Devices, Johnson & Johnson.

Sergey Brin stated, “It is extremely exciting to see the hard work Verily has been doing in optics, electronics, software, and more to take the next big step toward saving lives. Thanks to all of our partners and collaborators at Johnson & Johnson, Verb, and others.”

Scott Huennekens further noted that Verb has been demonstrating the working prototype to its stakeholders for the past several months. “Verb is in a very unique position to leverage technology in ways never imagined before,” said Huennekens, “and we’ve just taken one major step forward to creating the future of surgery.”

About Verb Surgical

Verb Surgical, Inc. is developing a digital surgery platform built with technology from Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) and Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., part of the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies. Verb’s platform will include robotics, visualization, advanced instrumentation, data analytics, and connectivity. The company has a goal to “democratize surgery” by making technology and information available to more patients globally to improve outcomes and reduce overall cost of care.

Verb Surgical was founded in 2015 with technology, expertise, and funding from Verily and Ethicon. In partnership with clinicians around the world, Verb is a company dedicated to turning technology and information into actions that matter. To learn more, go to www.verbsurgical.com.